Kazoku
by ReySolo and Tori Sakana

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Chapter 6 (In which our heroes find the trail)
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Duo awoke after only a couple hours of sleep. He looked around, disoriented for a moment, until he remember where he was. Shit… he thought. I'd hoped it was just a dream…

He realized that his head was pounding again. He didn't want to pound on the door to demand more painkillers, though, since that probably would wake Sifir up. The boy would apparently be having quite a busy day tomorrow. Not that today hadn't been stressful enough already…

He turned to look at his son, who lay nuzzled up beside him, and smiled. The boy looked so angelic when he slept. So like his tousan in that respect. Duo wondered if Heero knew how often he just laid awake in bed, watching his lover sleep. Both Heero and Sifir could be so cold and stoic when awake, yet turned into little angels when they fell asleep. Not that the two didn't have their moments of sweetness when awake, but there was just an air of vulnerability about them when they slept that Duo found immensely endearing.

His smile vanished as he remembered his son's obvious display of vulnerability earlier. He could not remember the last time he'd seen Sifir cry—even as a baby, the boy had been unusually quiet. And now, placed in a dangerous situation, he cried… for fear of losing his father.

Duo had no intention of letting that fear become a reality. Resolving to spend tomorrow figuring out some sort of escape plan, he laid back to get a few more hours of rest.

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Heero awoke at exactly 5:30 the next morning. Years of waking up early as a soldier had yet to wear off, even over a decade after the war had ended.

Getting up, he looked over at the other bed. Juuni was restless, constantly switching positions in her sleep. Ventuno, on the other hand, lay completely still, only shifting when one of Juuni's appendages landed on him, making him flinch.

Heero debated when to wake them up. He wanted to get back on the trail soon; every second they spent here was another second Duo and Sifir could be getting farther away, mistreated, or… he refused to let himself think about other possibilities. Yet despite his urgency to get moving, he knew his children needed this rest. And there was no way he was just going to leave them here when he went out to search. First of all, they would likely panic if they awoke to find their tousan gone. Also, Heero had a bad feeling about the clerk who had checked them in the night before. The feeling hadn't been strong enough to avoid sleeping here, and besides, this was the only motel in town; however, he was not going to leave Ven and Juuni alone here.

He also didn't ignore the possibility that they could be in danger as well. While it seemed the main target of the kidnapping had been Sifir, there was no guarantee that the enemy would leave the rest of the family alone. Especially if their use of Duo as motivation became too much of a hassle… No. He would not consider that idea. He would work under the assumption that both his partner and Sifir were alive, unless given absolute proof otherwise.

He decided he would take a shower, then get the kids up. They had gone to bed relatively early the night before, due to pure exhaustion, so hopefully they would be adequately re-energized.

He headed for the bathroom. After showering, he was getting dressed, when he heard muffled sounds from outside the bathroom. Leaving his shirt off and grabbing his gun, Heero raced out to see what was going on.

Relaxing somewhat when he found no strangers in the room, he saw Juuni thrashing about more wildly than she had been before. Moans sounding almost like pleas came from her mouth, and Heero realized she was having a nightmare. Ven had apparently been awakened by her sudden movements, and was watching her helplessly. Looking up when he heard Heero enter, he gave his tousan a pleading gaze.

Heero nodded to the boy, moving to his daughter's side. Nightmares were actually something he could handle. Both he and Duo had had more than their fair shares of haunting dreams about the war, killing, death. Many times Heero had awakened his love from the throws of a nightmare, then soothingly calmed him down, talking him back into a peaceful sleep. Though the kids' bad dreams were once again something Duo usually handled, Heero felt it was something he could manage.

Slowly reaching out a hand to run his fingers through Juuni's tangled hair, he whispered soothingly, "It's okay. It's just a dream. Come on, Juuni, wake up. You're safe here. I've got you." Keeping up a constant string of reassurances, he felt his daughter start to relax. He placed his other hand on her arm, then noticed her eyes open and fix on him.

"Tousan?" she asked hesitantly.

He nodded. "I'm here, Juuni."

She burst into tears, sitting up and wrapping her arms tightly around him. "Tousan, it was horrible! The bad guys, th—they found us, and they said they'd k—killed Dad, and then they sh—shot you and Ven, and they were gonna take me to make Sifir cooperate, so I ran, and they chased me, and I almost got out, but I tripped and they caught up with me, and…" she trailed off, sobbing into his shoulder.

"Shh…" Heero comforted her, rubbing her back in small circles. "It's okay, it was only a dream…" This was the second time in two days he'd had to deal with a crying Juuni, but this time he actually felt like he was helping.

Indeed, her sobbing was subsiding, and she loosened her death grip on her tousan. Sniffling, she asked, "It's not totally a dream, though, is it? The bad guys really do have Dad and Sifir?"

Heero gave her a tight squeeze, then pushed her shoulders back to look her in the eyes. "They do, but not for long. We are going to find them, and get both of them back safely." Inwardly, he hoped desperately that he wasn't giving his daughter false promises.

The reassurances did have the desired affect, however, and Juuni smiled. "We're gonna rescue them and be heroes and Dad's gonna be so proud and Sifir'll be amazed and everything'll be good, right?"

From the other side of the bed came a laugh. "You're silly, Juuni," Ven commented.

Juuni turned to glare playfully at him. "Nani??" [1]

"Be heroes? Baka, only Tousan is Heero," he replied with a grin.

She stuck out her tongue at him, and Heero hid a smile.

Joking, even under such serious circumstances; just like Duo, Heero thought. He couldn't help but believe that if his kids could be that bright and cheery, then everything would turn out all right in the end.

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The next time Duo awoke was to the door opening once again. He was instantly awake, and moved to stand between the door and his son. Sifir awoke, blinking a few times, then standing beside his father. Duo placed his arms around his son's shoulders.

Dr. White entered, looking at the boy. "Are you ready for more testing, Sifir?"

Sifir nodded, and stepped forward out of his father's reach.

Realizing there was nothing he could do at this point, Duo raised his gaze from his son's back to Dr. White's face. "You're not going to hurt him?"

She met his look seriously. "He will not be harmed. You have my word."

Something in her eyes told him she meant it, and he nodded.

Sifir turned around, said quietly, "I'll be fine, Dad," and followed Dr. White out of the room.

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Before going to sleep the previous night, Heero had set up his laptop to check on any leads his sources may have gotten. Nothing had come up, but he'd also set up a search for any information about the blue van Juuni had described. Now, before they checked out of the hotel, he once again checked for new information.

Nothing yet. Sighing, Heero left the laptop set up to pick up more information even without being plugged in. That mode would only last for a few hours without power, but it was their only option.

After the two kids had washed up and dressed, they had a quick, unhealthy breakfast of food from the vending machines. They also got a few extra snacks to keep for later, since they had no idea where they might be in the next few hours. By 7:00 they were ready to head out once again.

Heero decided their best bet was to head back on the trail they'd been following yesterday, and search for clues they might have missed. Since they had been following the signal more than any visual references, they could have missed something. He didn't really believe that he did, but at this point it was their only lead.

They made better time that morning, perhaps due to the fact that Juuni and Ven were freshly rested, and made it to the site of the transmitter in less than an hour.

Heading out farther than they had previously, the three spread out to search. Heero made sure the two kids were still in his visual and/or auditory range at all times, however.

"Ven, Tousan!" Juuni cried, and Heero tensed, until he realized her shout was in excitement, not fear. Following her voice, he reached the girl at the same time Ven did. She was moving away from them, however, toward an area where the trees seemed to thin out…

It was a road. Apparently not a frequently-used road, but it was paved, not gravel. Heero looked at it in surprise, feeling shame that he had not seen this the day before, but relief that they appeared to be back on track. "Good job, Juuni," he congratulated her.

She grinned, and Heero sensed that some of the guilt she'd felt yesterday from the fact that her transmitter seemingly lead nowhere was eased by her discovery of the road. Glad that she would now be more emotionally prepared for any challenges they came across, he then wondered where they should go from here. The road lead off into the trees east and west, with no discernable differences between the two directions.

Ven seemed to be pondering something. "Wonder how the transmitter got there? You think they even knew it was there? They'd probably have destroyed it or something if they'd known about it, right? Maybe it just fell out of the van somehow and got carried off a little ways by some curious animal." [2]

Surprised at his son's logical deduction, Heero nodded. "That's a good thought, Ven. Now, the question is, which way do we go?"

As if in answer, there was a beep from the bag on his back. Heero pulled the laptop out and opened it, typing in his password.

It was a minor police report, noting that a blue van matching Juuni's description had been sighted blowing past a tollbooth without paying. This had apparently happened last night, at a tollbooth several miles to the east of their current position.

When Juuni finished reading the article over Heero's shoulder, she announced happily, "That's it, then! We go east!" She pointed down the road toward the sun rising above the tree line.

Heero didn't say anything for a moment, still staring at the computer screen.

"Tousan?" Ven asked.

"We go to the west," [3] he stated, closing the laptop and putting it away.

"Huh?" The two kids looked at him with matching confused expressions.

He explained, "These people are too good. They managed to kidnap an ex-Gundam pilot and two of his kids without anyone, even another ex-pilot nearby, realizing it. These are professionals; they would not have made a stupid mistake like getting caught on tape running a tollbooth."

Juuni still looked confused. "So it was a different van? Then how do you know we should go west?"

Understanding was dawning on Ven's face, however. "So they did it on purpose…"

"Huh?" Juuni asked, looking up at her tousan for further explanation.

"The driver of the van would not have run a tollbooth so soon after the kidnapping unless it were on purpose, to lead us off the trail. Ven's earlier comment about the transmitter falling out implies that the door was opened at some point. Chances are good that Sifir and your dad were transferred into a different vehicle around this area, and the van headed in the opposite direction to lead us off course."

"So they know we found Juuni?" Ven asked.

"Not necessarily, they may have just…" Heero's eyes hardened. "The clerk at the hotel," he said venomously. "I knew there was something fishy about him when he was looking at you two. They must have paid him to tell them we were there. The question is, does he know enough about them to be worth going back there…?" He shook his head, answering his own question. "They'd know I might catch on, and either tell him next to nothing, or be ready to kill him the instant we show up there again."

Juuni looked appalled. "They'd kill someone who helped them?"

Ven answered jadedly, "They're bad guys, Juuni. They don't care who they kill."

Heero was silent, wishing that his children didn't have to learn about this side of human nature so early in life. Even without the danger involved, he was starting to rethink their participation. However, he had to admit that their help had been quite beneficial so far. Besides, at this point it would take too much time to find somewhere safe to leave them behind. It seemed he was stuck with them, at least for now.

He just hoped his kids weren't forced to grow up too soon in this adult world.

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TBC
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Footnotes:

[1] "Nani?" = "What?"

[2] No, this is not just the author finding a way to explain what happened… Okay, fine, it is. :) Our characters are quite good at telling the audience what they need to know, ne?

[3] Any Saiyuki fans out there? Go to the West…

Co-author Rant: *Yawn*...Tori's tired...despite having accomplished next to nothing. The new artwork is finally done and ready to ink!! Yay! Dance of joy! Now all that's left is about thirty hours of inking, scanning, and coloring. Yippee. Um, nothing else new here.

Some of our loyal readers may have noticed that Kazoku is getting updated a lot less frequently. Part of the reason for this is because we're really busy with school, work, and trying to learn Hungarian (and German) in three weeks. But part of it is the lack of reviews. Don't worry, we won't stop updating even if we get no reviews at all, but it does help us go faster. Motivation, people!

Now, I'm off to clean my pigsty of a dorm room before my parents get here. Chances of success: zero. Anyway, have a good weekend everyone! Auf Wiedersehen!